CEU + MTA – Academic Freedom in Hungary?

Lex CEU. That is what the decision to prohibit the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest to accept new students from January 1 2019 is called. The university is accredited to give both American and European degrees, and the quality of its education and research have been evaluated as excellent in both the United States and Hungary.

The decision is unprecedented in modern times, as CEU President and rector Michael Ignatieff points out. A European-American university is forced out of one of the EU member states, a country that also has strong ties to the United States through NATO cooperation. Now, the CEU is moving to Vienna in 2019. It has been argued repeatedly that the opposition to financier George Soros has made the CEU a target. However, developments in recent days have shown that it is not explanation enough. Now, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, MTA, has funding cuts for the first quarter of 2019 as well. The cause is, according to the minister responsible for the funding cuts, that the Academy has been involved in "unworthy" matters that should not "burden" its members. That means that they conduct research that is perceived as having political dimensions. The point is that the Academy already has conducted some self-censorship, such as cancelling a few controversial lectures and staying quiet in the matter of CEU – but apparently in vain. These are dark days for autonomy and academic freedom in Hungary.